


I Think that Possibly, Maybe, I'm Falling for You

by Sendryl



Series: (In This World I'm) Dreaming Slowly [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Again, And PTSD oh the PTSD they all have, BAMF Nohara Rin, Booty Shorts Obito, Both Kakashi and Obito have anxiety because tbh everyone in Naruto probably has anxiety, Cavalier Obito, Effects of Drunken Shenanigans, Falling In Love, Guess that's happening now, Hangover Breakfast, Investigative Journalist Obito, M/M, Modern AU, Morning After, None of them are doing their jobs here but it's mentioned, Not graphic but it is a part of the fic, Not really songfic but there is a song that's kinda hanging out in the background, Photographer Kakashi, Piggyback Ride vs Princess Carry, Reporter AU, Scars, Slackers, The Genma/Gai is background, The rivalry we never knew we needed, Whoops didn't mean to fall in love this morning, but not the way you're thinking, editor Rin, that's gonna be a thing, vomit tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22219006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sendryl/pseuds/Sendryl
Summary: Obito wakes up to a bright Saturday morning, two tylenol, a glass of water, the taste of death in his mouth, and a hot guy with floppy silver hair wearing a pair of tight black shorts and an even tighter black high neck tank top cooking breakfast in their kitchen and complaining about how long dry cleaning takes while Rin asks him prying questions.Obito blinks blankly at them both before resuming his zombie shuffle to the bathroom. He emerges twenty minutes later, long hair dripping water everywhere, fastening a towel around his waist and muttering, “What did you make me drink, Rin? I had the strangest dream.”“You remember Kakashi, right?” Rin asks, and Obito looks from her to the now-named and still-gaping Kakashi and back. Kakashi’s hair is flopping down over his face, and the part of Obito’s brain that isn’t frozen wants to touch it.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Obito, Maito Gai | Might Guy/Shiranui Genma
Series: (In This World I'm) Dreaming Slowly [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599088
Comments: 16
Kudos: 105





	1. All of the while, I never knew

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of Bring Me A Dream.
> 
> This picks up pretty much where that left off.
> 
> Go read that one first, if you would. It's short. It doesn't even bite!
> 
> Enjoy!

_So this is happening._

Kakashi adjusts the dead weight on his back, leaning forward as Obito starts to slide down. Obito isn’t heavy, exactly, but he’s solid. He’s warm all along Kakashi’s back, his head tucked up against his neck. He’s still passed out. Kakashi knows that it makes sense for him to be piggybacking Obito - it’s not like Rin could’ve done it - but he still shoots Rin a look as Obito slides down even more.

Rin helpfully turns and tugs Obito’s arms a little where they’re hanging over Kakashi’s shoulders, humming a half-familiar tune.

“Thanks,” Kakashi says, deadpan as can be as he adjusts his hold on Obito’s thighs. Muscular, firm-as-a-rock thighs.

_Not thinking about that._

Kakashi tries to focus on the tune Rin’s humming instead, tries to place it in an effort to stop thinking about Obito. Something about coffee shops? He’d be able to pick it out easier if her humming wasn’t so bad. Seriously, even her humming is off-key. How does that happen.

Rin just smiles at him, sweet and deadly, like a particularly adorable snapping turtle who knows that he’s thinking-not-thinking about her best friend’s thighs and maybe criticizing her humming skills. Maybe he should just stop thinking entirely. That sounds like a good plan.

She directs him down the street and buzzes them into the apartment before making her way toward the stairs, her smile growing more evil by the second. Kakashi resolutely ignores her and heads over to the elevator. He can’t tell if her evilness can be blamed on the drinks, doesn’t know her well enough yet, but he suspects it might just be how she is.

“So,” Kakashi draws the word out as they step into the elevator. Rin presses the button for the twelfth floor and Kakashi glares at his yes-definitely-evil-maybe boss, thinking of all the stairs she would’ve made him climb. It makes his question come out with a little more bite than he had initially intended. “You two do this often? Drink until one of you blacks out, I mean, not accost random strangers to carry you home.”

Rin just laughs at him, seeming delighted by his clear annoyance. “Not at all, and you’re hardly a stranger. I know all about you,” she shakes her head, but doesn’t elaborate on that frankly disquieting statement. “Obito hasn’t had this much to drink since high school. We’ll go out together and have a couple drinks after a hard day, but I can handle alcohol way better than he can. Guess we both forgot that tonight,” she says softly as she tilts her head to check on Obito. “I just wanted him to relax a little. He finished a big project he’s been working hard on…” She trails off, lifting a hand to comb Obito’s long hair away from his face.

Kakashi’s pretty sure Obito is fine based on his steady breathing and occasional murmuring sighs, and he’s fairly certain his jacket is now covered in drool, judging by the growing patch of damp warmth on his shoulder. Gross. Kakashi wouldn’t have just left him in the street, which was his other option after Obito passed out on him, but still. _Gross_.

The elevator doors open with a quiet ding and Rin leads the way down the hall. She lets them into the apartment and steps into a pair of slippers, but she raises a hand before Kakashi can figure out how to step out of his shoes with Obito on his back.

“Wait there. You’re covered in Obito’s inability to hold his liquor.”

That said, she deftly scoops Obito off Kakashi’s back and into a princess carry, bearing him down the dark hallway with ease. Kakashi revises his estimation of what Rin can and cannot do. She totally could’ve piggybacked Obito home.

He shifts from foot to foot as he waits for Rin to return, talking himself into and out of leaving at least five times before she comes back around the corner, carrying something in her arms that decidedly isn’t Obito.

When Rin, she of the snapping turtle smiles and incredibly strong arms, reappears with a black plastic garbage bag that reminds him of mobsters and cement shoes, Kakashi panics. Just a little. The tiniest amount of panic.

“I swear, I wasn’t thinking about his thighs. Don’t kill me.” There is no inflection in his voice, and Kakashi’s not sure whether that makes everything better or worse.

Maybe he should just kill himself and save Rin the trouble.

Rin raises an eyebrow at both Kakashi’s words and his absolutely deadpan delivery, and waves the garbage bag in his direction. Kakashi internally applauds her wise choice to ignore his temporary insanity.

“Your shoes are filthy,” she says, which explains the garbage bag. “There’s no way I’m letting you into the apartment like that.”

“I was actually just going to head out,” Kakashi motions over his shoulder, waving vaguely at the door behind him. “You seem to have everything well in hand.”

There’s a moment of quiet as Rin’s other eyebrow rises to join the first one.

“You’re telling me you know how to clean those?” Rin asks as she points at his shoes. Her tone makes it clear that she already knows Kakashi’s answer.

“Well, no-”

“Then you’re fine with your shoes smelling like that forever?”

“It won’t just… Go away?” Kakashi asks, wincing as Rin’s eyebrows raise even further.

“Go away? No. Linger in your apartment until you throw out your shoes in disgust? Definitely.”

Kakashi glances down at his shoes with a hangdog look on his face. “These are my favorite shoes,” he mourns, his face falling further as he realizes that he never replaced his only other pair of sneakers after Akino tore them to shreds. These are the only sneakers he owns.

“Then give them here!” Rin shakes the garbage bag at him. “Socks and pants too.”

Kakashi reluctantly toes out of his shoes and slips them into the bag. He eyes Rin warily as he strips off his socks and stuffs them in as well, avoiding the small puddle his shoes left behind.

“Pants?” He questions, hoping Rin won’t push.

“Your hems are disgusting.”

Kakashi looks down again. Urgh. He looks up at Rin again, a little reluctant to strip in front of the woman who might become his boss in a few days.

She huffs at him and sets the bag down, turning to walk further into the apartment. “I’ll get you some shorts, hold on a minute.” She disappears around the corner of the hallway, and Kakashi is left to wait again.

Since it’s clear he isn’t leaving any time soon, Kakashi might as well look around. He’s not going to move into the apartment, since Rin would definitely murder him if he got her floors dirty, but the apartment is pretty open, and his eyes have fully adjusted to the darkness by now. There’s quite a bit to see, even from the doorway.

The kitchen is directly beside the entryway, open and airy, a wide counter offsetting it from the rest of the room. There’s a dining room table and chairs just visible past the kitchen, and a coffee table and couch across the wide stretch of hardwood flooring, but it’s mostly empty. The whole apartment would feel barren if it wasn’t for the massive series of windows stretching up to the ceiling all along the far wall. Instead of feeling barren and lonely, the room feels like an observatory or an auditorium, and the furniture almost seems to be intruding on the empty space instead of the other way around. The windows also provide enough light that Rin really didn’t need to turn on any lights, but not enough to be annoying. They’re nice windows.

Kakashi can see the city lights beyond the glass, and he wonders if he could see the stars, even with Konoha’s lights. Oddly enough, there’s a hand railing stretching all the way across the wall, just beneath the wide windows. The apartment must’ve been converted from something. That had a railing beneath windows. Yes. For lack of a better explanation, Kakashi’s just going to go with it.

There’s an open door across from the kitchen in front of the entryway, and Kakashi can see the back of what might be a computer chair. Office, maybe? Obito’s room is apparently around the corner, or maybe he and Rin share? Not that that would bother Kakashi, except that _oh gods_ maybe he’s been hitting on his sort-of-future-boss’s man and that is _bad_ that is _worse than the usual dumpster fire that is Kakashi’s life._

Wait. Wait. Why would Rin have literally shoved Obito into his arms, if that was the case? Why would Obito have smiled up at him like that? That doesn’t make sense. Roommates. Roommates makes much more sense. Kakashi decides to go with that until he finds out otherwise. He’s resolutely not remembering how adorable Obito was, grinning up at him with his gorgeous face and his stunning smile and his sweet, sweet words. He’s not thinking about that at all.

Of course, that’s when Rin reappears, a pile of clothing in her arms, and it takes all of Kakashi’s willpower not to a, scream, or b, blurt out how adorable Obito is. He forces his mind to latch onto c, the first non-Obito thing it can, and his brain offers up a vine, of all things.

“And they were roommates,” Kakashi says. Very clearly and concisely. To Rin. His probable boss.

Rin looks at Kakashi with the most dead look in her eyes and answers, “Oh my gods, they were roommates.” Then she laughs at him and shoves a pair of soft black shorts into his arms. Her next words completely derail Kakashi’s surprise and confusion over Rin finishing his impulsive vine reference. “Here, my shorts should work for you to sleep in. Obito’s booty shorts wouldn’t cover much more than whatever underwear you’ve got, and there’s no way you’re fitting into his pants, your legs are way too long and skinny.”

Kakashi hasn’t heard a word past “booty shorts”.

“Booty shorts?” He manages to squeak out, valiantly trying not to picture Obito in only those. It wouldn’t be right. Obito’s drunk. And passed out. And _they haven’t actually met._ Kakashi’s pretty sure Obito passing out in his arms doesn’t count, and Kakashi checking out his ass as he stalked past the glass doors of Rin’s office _definitely_ doesn’t count. What an ass, though… Kakashi shakes himself back to awareness to see Rin smirking.

“He did ballet,” she says, like that’s an explanation and not an invitation for Kakashi’s brain to send him reeling through images of Obito and his phenomenal ass dancing elegantly across a stage.

“Nnrg,” Kakashi replies. Any further responses are cut off by Rin tossing a shirt at him. Thankful as he is for the rescue, he looks at the shirt in confusion.

“You carried him home, Kakashi, your jacket and shirt are pretty nasty too. In fact, you should just take a shower. I can smell you from here.” Rin’s nose wrinkles as she points down the hallway, “Bathroom’s at the end of the hallway. I put towels on the counter for you already.” That said, she pointedly turns her back to him.

His brain stutters for a second before finally giving up on making sense out of any of this situation. It’s been a very long day, starting with Bull knocking over a tray of Genma’s seedlings. The less said about the awful photo shoot with that demon cat Tora the better. And then the restaurant Gai had recommended had lost his reservation, and he’d had to wait an hour before being seated - an hour filled with Konoha’s sketchiest businessmen sneering at him as they proceeded to their own reservations with the help of a few bills to the maitre d. The only bright part of his whole day has been running into Obito. And even that…

Kakashi sighs as he gives in and starts stripping, taking his phone and wallet out of his jacket pockets. It isn’t really Obito’s fault, he decides as he tugs his pants off. He doesn’t know whose fault it would be otherwise, but it isn’t Obito’s. Nope. Maybe it’s Rin’s fault, but Rin’s terrifying and he’s not going to accuse her of anything, ever. Hmm. That statement says _good things_ about his future work environment. Minato’s there though. He can probably rein Rin in. Probably.

Kakashi stuffs his clothes into the garbage bag at his feet before tugging on Rin’s pajama shorts. They fit surprisingly well, and Kakashi refuses to consider any conclusions he could draw from that. It’s been way too long of a day for body image issues. He’s just going to shut off his brain now and hope for the best.

“Thank you, Rin.” Pretty good for a shut-off brain, Kakashi nods to himself.

Rin waves a hand in acceptance, stepping past him without looking at him to pick up the bag.

“So you know how to get the smell out of my sneakers?” He asks as he makes his way down the hall, still not thinking about anything at all, definitely not about how relieved he is Rin didn’t see his scars.

“Nope,” Rin says as she shoves her feet into her shoes.

Kakashi blinks and turns, his brain roaring back to life in outraged confusion, but before he can ask why he’s almost naked in their apartment if she can’t wash his clothes, Rin opens the front door. Kakashi instinctively clutches her shirt to his chest, hiding his scars from the sudden influx of light from the hall.

“But I do know an excellent twenty-four hour dry cleaners!” She laughs at his expression. “Straight down the hall,” she reminds him as she starts to walk out. “Oh!” She stops, laughing at herself. She motions to the door beside the entryway as she says, “This is our guest room. The sheets are clean, just head to bed after your shower.”

Kakashi nods, too tired to put up a fight. Sure. Sleep here. Why not? He’s already wearing her shorts and going to take a shower in their bathroom. It’s Friday night and he doesn’t have anywhere to be tomorrow. Why not just sleep here? He turns away, only to hear Rin’s voice float softly down the hall.

“Kakashi?” Her tone of voice stops him in his tracks. “Straight down the hall. The door to the right at the end is Obito’s. If you bother him, there will be consequences.”

Consequences. The word should sound like a mother scolding her children. It doesn’t. The hair on the back of Kakashi’s neck is rising, and it’s all he can do to turn his head back to look at Rin. The front door’s already shut and Rin has clearly left the apartment, but Kakashi can’t stop himself from answering, “Yes, ma’am.”

He shakes himself after a moment and continues down the hall, unlocking his phone and thumbing through his contacts as he walks. He finds the beaming smile he’s looking for and calls.

“Gai?” Kakashi murmurs as the line connects, hoping that keeping his voice low will keep Gai’s voice low through some kind of desperate osmosis. He doesn’t want his friend to wake the entire house, after all.

It never works. “My eternal rival!” Gai bellows, and through the ringing in his ears Kakashi can hear a sleepy grumble in the background. “Ah, my apologies, dearest gem of my heart! I will speak in the other room!”

“It’s fine, I’m awake,” Genma mutters, and Kakashi can hear sheets rustling through the phone as Genma takes it from Gai and puts Kakashi on speakerphone. “Where are you, Kakashi? We were getting worried. Did Gai’s restaurant poison you?”

“Ha ha,” Kakashi says softly. “No, I’m staying the night at someone’s apartment-”

“Say no more!” Gai yells, and Kakashi winces for his phone’s speakers. “I am so pleased to hear that you have taken a lover!” Kakashi pulls the phone away from his ear, staring at it in disbelief. Unfortunately Gai is loud enough to be heard anyway. “Mark my words, my hip and cool rival! Even in this I shall not lose!”

Kakashi’s eye starts twitching at the implications, but before he can hang up the phone, Genma laughs and says, drawing out the vowels into a seductive drawl, “You have my most sincere thanks, Kakashi.” There’s movement and Gai’s laughter in the background, and Genma continues in a more normal tone. “We’ll take care of the dogs until you get back, so go have some fun.” Genma drops his voice again to promise, “I know we will!” He laughs and hangs up.

Kakashi whimpers in horror. A shower might be nice after all. He’ll have to see if Rin and Obito have any brain bleach he can borrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I LOVE comments. Comments are my lifeblood.  
> If you comment you will make me so happy.
> 
> Kakashi is a skinny 5'9" man with long legs, in my fic.  
> Obito is a muscled 5' 7" man with a long torso.
> 
> Rin can totally make and win an argument that Obito's pants wouldn't fit Kakashi, but really they probably would've been fine.  
> She's just being supportive of Obito and his future need to see Kakashi in her tight shorts.
> 
> Rin is right about the booty shorts though - those wouldn't fit Kakashi. He has a tiny lil (tight) ass, poor man.  
> Obito is gonna think his ass is cute though, and that's what matters in the end.
> 
> You know I had to throw GenGai in there somewhere. I love them. They bought a house together with Kakashi because he couldn't find an apartment that would let him keep his eight dogs.
> 
> If you found typos or if something didn't make sense to you or you think I should've tagged something I didn't, please politely let me know! :D
> 
> Come scream with me on tumblr. I'm [Sendryl](https://sendryl.tumblr.com/) there too.
> 
> [Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyTwC3CbcxU)
> 
> [Dreaming Slowly by PLEASURE HOUSE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPJ75DUjHXo)


	2. It was you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Obito wakes up to a glorious Saturday and a familiar stranger making breakfast.
> 
> Kakashi gets an eyeful. Obito gets an eyeful. Rin is an awful.
> 
> There's still silliness and music because this is a me fic, and that's how I roll.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love morning after scenes, because everything is so awkward and cute and tentative and usually people are hyperaware and...
> 
> I love them okay?
> 
> So I wrote one for this chapter. Except no one had sex in order for this morning after to happen... Lol.
> 
> Enjoy!

Obito wakes up to a bright Saturday morning, two tylenol, a glass of water, the taste of death in his mouth, and a hot guy with floppy silver hair wearing a pair of tight black shorts and an even tighter black high neck tank top cooking breakfast in their kitchen and complaining about how long dry cleaning takes while Rin asks him prying questions.

Obito stops in his tracks, wearing only his booty shorts and a grumpy expression. The kitchen is silent for a moment before hot silver soft hair man blushes bright as a sunrise and Rin asks, “Do you want eggs, Obito?”

Obito blinks blankly at them both before resuming his zombie shuffle to the bathroom. He emerges twenty minutes later, long hair dripping water everywhere, fastening a towel around his waist and muttering, “What did you make me drink, Rin? I had the strangest dream.”

When he looks up from the towel, silver hottie hair is staring at him, mouth agape, while Rin raises an eyebrow from where she’s perched on the kitchen counter. They appear to be quite comfortable around each other, judging by the devious grin stretching across Rin’s face.

“You remember Kakashi, right?” Rin asks, and Obito looks from her to the now-named and still-gaping Kakashi and back. Kakashi’s hair is flopping down over his face, and the part of Obito’s brain that isn’t frozen wants to touch it. “The commissioner's son. The freelance photographer everyone’s been dying to get their hands on,” Rin continues, clearly enjoying herself. “The one Minato and I have been interviewing. The guy who carried you home last night after you passed out on him and threw up on his shoes.”

Obito makes a high-pitched muffled sound, like a suddenly trodden-on squeaky toy.

“Not in that order actually, it was the other way around,” she corrects herself. “Speaking of which, you might want to get yourself into some semblance of order, Obi.”

At his uncomprehending expression, Rin makes a gentle motion toward his legs, and Obito looks down to see his towel. The towel he wrapped around his hips after taking his shower. The towel that is currently the _only thing he’s wearing in front of the man who definitely carried him home last night after he threw up on him it wasn’t a dream oh gods no._

The sound Obito makes at this point could generously be called a shriek. A pterodactyl screech might be a more accurate description. It definitely isn’t a squeal, not by any stretch of the imagination and no matter what Rin says when she recounts the story later.

Obito flies back into his room, and the only sound is the sizzle of the bacon Kakashi is starting to burn. Rin’s snickering is entirely silent.

  
  
  
  


Obito, fully dressed this time, reemerges in time to hear Kakashi complaining about the positioning of their couch to Rin, now seated on a bar stool to make room for breakfast.

“I ran right into it, Rin,” he mutters. “There is no good reason why a couch should stick halfway into the hall. Who decided that was a good idea?”

“The deal was I got to pick the furniture, as long as Obito got his floors. And his windows.”

“And wheels,” Obito adds, the familiarity of the list drawing him into the conversation.

“Wheels?” Kakashi asks before realizing that Rin isn’t the one who spoke, turning slowly with a frying pan in his hand.

“Wheels,” Obito repeats, dressed in a navy turtleneck and jeans, long sleeves and pants covering him from wrist to ankle, far too warmly dressed for the pleasant temperature in the apartment. Kakashi would be tempted to comment on how repressed he looks, except that Obito turns to push the couch back against the wall and in doing so shows off practically every individual muscle in his body. His clothing is very tight. Repression has never looked so good.

Thankfully, instead of saying any of that, when Obito turns around and walks up to the kitchen counter, Kakashi merely offers, “Eggs and bacon?”

Good, normal human interaction achieved. Excellent work. Four for you, Kakashi.

Obito squints at the offer, and it’s only then that Kakashi notices that he can only see one of Obito’s eyes. Kakashi should’ve noticed earlier, honestly, but, well, Obito’s clothes are _really_ tight. It takes far more effort than Kakashi wants to admit to haul his brain back on track.

Obito’s wearing an eyepatch, an oddly long and wide one that covers nearly half his face. The black fabric blends with the long hair falling loose around his shoulders, and Kakashi knows he wasn’t wearing the eyepatch yesterday. If he didn’t need it then, and he didn’t need it at work the other day, why would he need it now?

“Bad nerve day?” Rin murmurs, low enough that Kakashi knows he wasn’t supposed to hear her. That would explain the patch, but Obito glances at her and takes a deep breath before he shakes his head once. Rin glares, and her sharp, “Obito,” is definitely a rebuke. “We’ve been over this.”

Kakashi isn’t sure what to make of the increasingly tense atmosphere, and he feels very out of place all of a sudden. He doesn’t want to make them uncomfortable, but Rin had been awake when he’d gotten up, and she’d talked him into making breakfast instead of paying for dry cleaning, and no matter how close the door is and how much it’s beckoning to him and offering him sweet escape from the approaching confrontation, he has a feeling that if he leaves now he’ll just make everything worse. Judging by the way she’s been calling him her minion all morning and the fact that apparently he is a very desirable photographer, Rin is almost definitely going to hire him, and that means Obito will be his coworker, and that means making everything worse is a _bad idea._ He’s got to stick it out and see if he can get through this interaction with all of his future coworker’s goodwill intact.

Obito makes his way to the kitchen counter and sits on the bar stool one over from Rin’s, trying and failing to hide his frantic gesture at Kakashi.

_Some_ of his coworker’s goodwill intact, Kakashi amends his train of thought. Whatever Rin was rebuking Obito for, it’s clearly not something he wants to share in front of Kakashi, which is completely fair, and Kakashi plates up the bacon and eggs with a quiet sigh. He didn’t mean to make Obito feel awkward in his own home. Hopefully food and blatant ignorance will salvage the situation.

Rin shoots him a half-commiserating, half-reprimanding look, but turns back to Obito and says, blunt and unapologetic as a mallet to the face, “Besides, Kakashi doesn’t have any room to judge when it comes to scars.”

Kakashi nearly drops the plate as he realizes why Obito’s wearing not only the eyepatch, but the turtleneck and jeans as well. His brain helpfully flashes him an image of Obito walking out of the bathroom with his towel gaping open over his thigh, a multitude of scars and toned muscles on display. As Kakashi banishes the mental image, Obito makes a noise like a scalded cat and hisses a sharp, “Rin!”

Rin looks from Obito to Kakashi and raises an eyebrow in what seems to be her trademark look. “Do you?” She asks him, lightly, as if there isn’t a wrong answer and Kakashi isn’t about to see his coworker and boss break into a brawl.

Actually, judging by the quivering tension in Obito’s body and the anger and hurt and welling tears in his visible eye, that isn’t what would happen at all.

_Oh._

This isn’t about feeling uncomfortable or awkward because Kakashi is a stranger in his apartment who nearly saw him naked. This is about feeling low and worthless and afraid because Kakashi is a stranger who _saw his scars._

So much for the ignorance idea. He’s going to have to go with Plan B: Rin’s Right, I Can’t Judge You For That.

Kakashi takes a split second to glance over Obito, this time noting the obvious fact that his long sleeves are to ensure that every single one of his scars is hidden from sight, and then he says, “Rin’s right, I can’t judge you for that.”

Obito’s eye snaps up to meet his, and Kakashi sets the plate down with a quiet clink. He reaches up to brush his hair away from his eye, and without his usual scarves and jackets hiding his chin his face is completely bare. Obito pulls back with a sharp breath as he takes in Kakashi’s scar. A long stripe of faded scar tissue runs down the left side of Kakashi’s face from hairline to chin, right over the center of his eye and nearly as wide as his iris, tapering to a thin point at either end. His eyes are two different colors, the right a dark grey nearly as black as his pupil and the left a bright blood red. When he blinks Obito can see that his scar perfectly bisects his eyelid.

“Some people took issue with my father’s policies when I was a kid,” Kakashi says with a smile that he forces to reach his eyes, speaking just as casually as he would to comment on the weather. “They attacked me and my friends. I lost an eye, got a transplant, had to learn to see again and everything. Wore an eyepatch for a while, too.” He makes sure to meet Obito’s eye as he firmly says, “I’d never judge anyone for their scars.”

Kakashi’s been speaking calmly, but it’s getting harder as he continues, his words fighting the noise in his head, the anxiety over his scars that he’s never entirely managed to eliminate. He drops his hands, lets his hair fall over his eye again, looks down and breaths evenly. It’s now or never.

“This isn’t even my worst one.” He manages to hold his voice and his smile steady, hating the anxiety that rises to strangle him and send minute tremors through his hands as he lowers them to the hem of his shirt. At least he’s learned not to show his fear on his face. He’s put a lot of work into keeping himself calm and smiling through any number of terrible situations and emotions. Sometimes he thinks he should have perfected his competent front by now with all the practice he’s had, but it never really gets easier.

It’s not like Obito is likely to judge him for his scars, he understands what it’s like, and Kakashi saw his scars already, without Obito’s permission. It’s only fair that Obito sees his. Rin doesn’t seem to care about Obito’s scars so she probably won’t care about Kakashi’s and she probably saw him last night anyway and-

Obito’s hand stops him. Kakashi hadn’t even realized he’d leaned across the counter, too caught up in forcing himself to stay calm, but Obito’s reached over and placed his hand gently over Kakashi’s own, wrapped tightly in the hem of his borrowed tank top to keep it from shaking.

“You don’t have to,” he says, and when Kakashi focuses on his face the panic drains away like dirty water down the drain, leaving him shaky and hollow inside. Obito’s crookedly smiling up at him, his eyepatch gone, removed while Kakashi wasn’t looking, and he can see the twisted scarring pulling at Obito’s gentle smile. The scars hadn’t even registered last night, the darkness and Kakashi’s surprise at the encounter blinding him to anything but Obito’s smile, just as gentle now as it was then. Obito’s eyes are kind, a little red with unshed tears, and as his smile widens his eyes somehow soften and look even gentler. “You don’t have to show me. I believe you.”

Kakashi’s breath catches in his chest and he can’t help but smile back, full and free, his first real smile in far too long, and the hollow left by his receding panic starts to fill up with something warm and fond that he refuses to try to name.

After a moment more, Obito pulls away and Kakashi settles back onto his heels, unsure of when he had started leaning forward in the first place. He flicks his eyes over to Rin, questioning why she had said something that could’ve backfired so spectacularly.

“Rin might seem like the worst asshole you’ll ever have the displeasure of meeting,” Obito says dryly, seeing his worry as if it’s easy. Obito grins affectionately at Rin, his tone all biting sarcasm, and continues, “But she’s actually even worse.”

Obito turns his grin on Kakashi then, but he pauses when their eyes meet. There’s a brief moment where confusion flashes through Obito’s eyes, but understanding comes right after, and his smile goes gentle and warm as he says, “I did ask her to call me out on hiding my scars though. I’ve learned it isn’t healthy for me to hide who I am, and I trust Rin to stop me from doing that. You don’t need to look so worried, Kakashi.”

And Obito keeps smiling at him, like what he just did was normal. Like he can already read Kakashi like a book. Like it’s the simplest thing in the world.

Kakashi has close friends who have never been able to read him. He’s heard countless people complain about his blank expressions and dead eyes and lack of emotion, yet Obito’s somehow understanding him perfectly. First Kakashi’s anxiety over his scars, and now his confusion and worry over Rin’s choice to start the entire scar conversation in the first place. Kakashi isn’t sure what to do with the fact that Obito can read him so easily so soon after they’ve met, but he feels that same warmth and fondness filling him even more.

He isn’t even going to pretend to understand how Obito can be so open about himself.

“Where’s the lie though?” Rin asks, snapping Kakashi out of his thoughts as she laughs and kicks a foot out at Obito. “I am definitely an asshole.” Obito sticks his tongue out at her with a huff and shakes his head as Kakashi turns back to the stove, grateful for the shift in focus.

After a moment he hands Rin a fresh plate of food. She takes a massive bite of eggs, smiling to herself and thumbing through her phone, then presses play decisively. The apartment is slowly filled with a quietly strumming guitar, growing louder as the song goes on. It’s the same song she was humming so terribly last night.

She speaks over the music as the vocals start, “So Kakashi, a greasy breakfast is perfect after a drunken night of revelry, yes?”

Kakashi is confused why this is even a question. He plates up the last of the eggs and bacon and passes it to Obito. The first plate he made is cold by now, and cold eggs and bacon are a travesty he’s not willing to inflict on anyone. He nods at Rin as he dumps the cold food back into the frying pan to heat it for himself, and she grins.

“Obito doesn’t agree.”

Kakashi can’t believe that, but when he turns to Obito he’s pushed up his sleeves, baring his scarred right arm without a care in the world, and is poking at Kakashi’s perfectly fluffy eggs with a fork and an expression like they just murdered his next of kin.

“Toast is perfect,” he grumps half-heartedly, scooping up a forkful eggs and eyeing them with great reluctance. “Not that I’m ungrateful for the meal, but dry toast is what I’ve always sworn by. And Rin’s opinion doesn’t count, because she doesn’t even get hangovers in the first place.”

Kakashi magnanimously decides to ignore that last comment. Rin’s either lying or some kind of mystical creature and that is too much to learn about his boss so early in their working relationship.

“Have you ever tried a greasy breakfast?” Kakashi asks instead, more curious than offended that Obito might not want the food he cooked, and is satisfied when Obito shakes his head in answer. “There you go. You won’t know until you try. Eat it all and you’ll feel much better.”

Obito eyes the eggs again, but starts eating without comment. Kakashi can see the scars on his right arm, twisted and terrible and deep. They’ve obviously faded with time, but Kakashi has to wonder what could cause such awful scarring. He won’t ask though, because it would be cruel to press Obito when he let Kakashi keep his scars hidden, and while Kakashi is many things he isn’t cruel.

Obito feels comfortable enough to show his scars. He apparently already trusts Kakashi not to ask, and Kakashi definitely understands leaving old wounds alone. If Obito ever wants to talk about them, he can bring it up.

Rin reaches across the counter for the coffee pot and motions to the mugs until Kakashi passes three over. Obito takes his black with enough sugar to choke a goat, while Rin asks for the half and half and proceeds to completely drown her coffee and ignore the sugar entirely.

Obito and Rin both glare when he fixes his own cup with two spoons of sugar and a dollop of half and half. Apparently, a normal cup of coffee is sacrilege in this apartment. Kakashi is learning all sorts of things today.

Kakashi joins them at the bar with his warm meal and his perfectly normal coffee, sitting in between them, and they eat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet playlist Rin put on. The speakers and acoustics in the apartment are amazing, and Kakashi marvels at how the music fills the space from every corner, just loud enough to be heard and appreciated, rhythms and words and tunes warming him just as much as the food. It’s much better than his speakers at home, that’s for sure.

Obito suddenly makes a sound of disgust in the back of his throat and Kakashi turns to face him with a jolt, nearly getting a finger up his nose as Obito points at him suspiciously.

“This is witchcraft,” Obito accuses, narrowing his eyes, his scars vivid in the morning light. “This is the result of witches and curses and- and… Eggs and bacon should not be this good after a night like that!” He shakes his finger in Kakashi’s face and Kakashi blinks in confusion as Rin cackles behind him. Obito points at her over Kakashi’s shoulder and shouts something that Kakashi can’t fully focus on over his own racing heart.

Oh.

He’d thought Obito was attractive, sure, and his personality has been adorable so far, all kind smiles and gentle words underneath his grumpy exterior. But add in the spitfire temper and the pointed sarcasm he’s now slinging at Rin and Kakashi is _gone_.

_Whoops._

Falling for Obito was not in the plans Kakashi had made for today, but apparently that’s what’s happening now.

Kakashi tunes back into the conversation in time to hear Rin teasing Obito about his hangovers in high school. He seizes the topic eagerly.

“Oh, you were a bad boy in high school were you?” He chuckles at the mortified blush rising on Obito’s face.

“Betrayal!” Obito shrieks, glaring at Rin as if he could incinerate her with his eyes.

Kakashi swallows the last of his bacon and decides not to fight the grin stealing across his face.

“Oh, the stories I could tell,” Rin says with a smirk, laughing and dodging the napkin Obito throws at her.

“Well, I don’t have anywhere to be, boss,” Kakashi says, swiveling the bar stool to prop his elbows on the counter behind him.

Rin has an incredibly good memory, Kakashi learns. She pulls out story after story and Kakashi ends up teaming up with her to tease Obito about his wild high school days. Obito vehemently protests every time Rin starts a new story, but by the end of each one he’s smiling, and by the time he scrapes his plate clean there are tears in his eyes from laughing too hard.

Obito’s eyes keep darting between the empty frying pan and Rin’s half-full plate, so Kakashi gets up to make more food, ignoring both Obito’s spluttered protests about guests doing all the work and Rin’s laughter. He might as well make the best first impression he possibly can. It’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of time to win Obito over, he can already tell.

It’s a good thing Kakashi’s never been afraid of hard work. The outcome has to be worth it, of course, but the possibility of dating Obito?

Worth it.

Kakashi sets down a plate of crispy bacon and perfectly fluffy scrambled eggs with the gentlest smile he can give. Obito blushes faintly, the tops of his cheeks turning pink as he smiles back.

Definitely worth it.

Rin’s playlist restarts, the quietly strumming guitar catching Kakashi’s attention, and this time, now that he can actually hear the lyrics, he smiles and hums along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I JUST LOVE KAKAOBI AND RIN AND MUSIC OKAY?!
> 
> Comments are still my lifeblood. I love them and will adore you if you comment.  
> Also you might inspire something more in this verse if you ask questions or tell me what you want to see more of.
> 
> One thing I want to make very clear is that Obito has had some therapy and knows that covering his facial scars isn't super mentally healthy for him, and he's asked Rin to call him out on it whenever he does it.  
> So she's actually being a very good friend here, not being cruel or pushing her friend out of his comfort zone.  
> Don't do this sort of shit to someone unless they've specifically asked you to help them with it like this.  
> Let people hide when they need to, like Obito does for Kakashi with his chest scars.
> 
> Anyway.
> 
> I've already got another fic in the works for this verse, but it takes place much later, when Kakashi and Obito are close friends and dancing around each other. (Haha there's a PUN there! Tell me if you catch it!) That fic explains the wheels thing, btw.
> 
> If you find any typos, please politely let me know!
> 
> Looked up pics for long haired Obito and YES. This is PERFECT. [Uchiha Obito](https://www.zerochan.net/1767655)
> 
> Come scream with me on tumblr. I'm [Sendryl](https://sendryl.tumblr.com/) there too.
> 
>   
> Fic name and chapter title are from [Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyTwC3CbcxU).
> 
> Series name is from [Dreaming Slowly by PLEASURE HOUSE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPJ75DUjHXo).


End file.
